USA: Dara Khosrowshahi Is New Uber CEO

Dara Khosrowshahi New Uber CEO
Uber Technologies Inc chose Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of travel company Expedia Inc, as its chief executive on Sunday, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, handing him the challenge of leading the ride-services company out of a nearly year-long crisis.

Khosrowshahi, 48, would take on the daunting task of mending Uber’s image, repairing frayed relations among investors, rebuilding employee morale and creating a profitable business after seven years of losses.

In Khosrowshahi, Uber’s board has picked an executive with a track record of driving growth while also delivering profits - precisely what the unprofitable Uber needs to satisfy investors.

He has also proven capable of making Expedia the leader in another industry full of change and competition - online travel.

But he would also have to contend with the legacy of Travis Kalanick, Uber’s pugnacious co-founder, who was ousted as CEO in June after shareholders representing about 40 per cent of the company’s voting power signed a letter asking him to step down amid growing concern over his behaviour and that of senior managers under him.

The Uber board of directors has been meeting daily and deliberated on its pick for CEO throughout the weekend. A spokeswoman said on Sunday that the board had voted but was declining to disclose its choice publicly until after informing employees.

An Uber spokesman and an Expedia spokeswoman declined to comment. Khosrowshahi did not immediately respond to requests for comment through email and on Twitter.

Khosrowshahi, who has run Expedia for 12 years, was not known to the public to be among the top candidates for the job.

He beat out Jeff Immelt, chairman of General Electric Co and one of the finalists for the job, who said earlier on Sunday he was no longer in the running.

Meg Whitman, chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, had also been a leading candidate, according to sources close to the process. Whitman last month denied having any interest in the job.

Unlike Immelt and Whitman, Khosrowshahi is not a fixture in the celebrity executive community. And since Expedia is based in Bellevue, Washington, he is a Silicon Valley outsider.

The Iranian-American businessman came to the United States as a child in 1978 with his parents following the Iranian Revolution. He received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Brown University and got his start at investment bank Allen and Co.

Khosrowshahi has certainly done well for himself - in 2015 he was the highest paid CEO in the country, mainly because of a nearly US$91 million stock option grant. He is also on the board of the New York Times Company and sports merchandise company Fanatics Inc.

Under Khosrowshahi’s leadership, Expedia more than doubled its annual revenue since 2012 to nearly US$8.8 billion in 2016. The company reported net income of US$281.8 million for 2016.

In an interview with CNBC in May, he said: Analysts are focused on margins. I am focused on growth.

He led Expedia through a string of acquisitions since 2014, buying Airbnb rival HomeAway Inc for US$3.9 billion, Orbitz Worldwide Inc for US$1.3 billion and Travelocity for US$280 million, cobbling together an online travel empire. Expedia is the world’s largest online travel agency by bookings.

He has been an outspoken critic of US President Donald Trump, blasting Trump’s travel ban, which includes Iran, as inward-looking and reactionary. Expedia filed a legal challenge to the ban.

At Uber, he would bring an end to a company culture built on founder control. Kalanick enjoyed sweeping authority on the board and nearly complete autonomy in running the company, a governance style that helped to create a workplace that had few checks and balances.

Uber has been hit by allegations of sexual harassment, a lawsuit alleging trade-secrets theft, a federal criminal probe over use of software to evade city regulators, and allegations of executives mishandling the medical records of a victim who was raped by her Uber driver in India, among other controversies.

Uber was valued at US$68 billion at its most recent investment last year, but recently some mutual funds have written down the value of their Uber investment by as much as 15 per cent, a sign of wavering confidence in the company.

Despite the controversies, Uber is still a growing company.

Last week, the company reported a 16 per cent increase in ride bookings and a 17 per cent jump in net revenue for the second quarter over the previous period, and its losses shrank by 9 per cent.



Tourism Observer

USA: Uber CEO Kalanick Resigns

Travis Kalanick, the combative and embattled CEO of ride-hailing giant Uber, has resigned under pressure from investors at a pivotal time for the company.

Uber's board confirmed the move early Wednesday, saying in a statement that Kalanick is taking time to heal from the death of his mother in a boating accident while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history. He will remain on the Uber Technologies Inc. board.

The move comes as Uber, the world's largest ride-hailing company, was having trouble morphing from a free-wheeling startup into a mature company that can stanch losses and post consistent profits. After eight years of phenomenal growth by upending the taxi business, Uber had reached a point where the culture that created the company had become a liability that threatened to kill it.

In a statement, the 40-year-old co-founder said his resignation would help Uber go back to building "rather than be distracted with another fight," an apparent reference to efforts on the board to oust him.

It was unclear who would replace Kalanick.

The resignation came after a series of costly missteps under Kalanick that damaged Uber's reputation, including revelations of sexual harassment in its offices, allegations of trade secrets theft and a federal investigation into efforts to mislead local government regulators.

Uber lost an expensive battle for supremacy in China against Didi Chuxing and had to be satisfied with taking a stake in Didi as a consolation prize. Uber posted a $708 million first-quarter loss, unable to turn $3.4 billion in revenue into a profit. The loss narrowed from the $991 million it posted in the previous quarter.

Investors have talked about selling stock in Uber to the public, a move that would imply a transition to an established business. The company was valued at near $70 billion the last time it sought capital.

Kalanick's penchant for conflict undermined the company's prospects, said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Ride-hailing itself remains a topic of intense interest for the tech and auto industries as they compete to see whether Silicon Valley or the automakers will reap the profits from the digitalization of how people get from one place to another.

But "the significance of Uber has declined because the company has not managed to present itself in a stable and socially responsible way," Dudenhoeffer said.

"When you're at war with customers, employees, service suppliers, you can't build up a business model and Kalanick was at war with everyone," said Dudenhoeffer. "There is no business model in being at war. "

On Tuesday, the company embarked on a 180-day program to change its image by allowing riders to give drivers tips through the Uber app, something Kalanick had resisted.

Drivers have said that Kalanick didn't value their labor even though it was the heart of the San Francisco-based company.

Uber's board said in a statement that Kalanick had "always put Uber first."

But under Kalanick, the company developed a reputation for ruthless tactics that have occasionally outraged government regulators, drivers, riders and employees.

The company often flouted city regulations for taxi companies with a culture that encouraged "Principled Confrontation."

The company's hard-charging style has led to legal trouble. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Uber's past usage of phony software designed to thwart local government regulators who wanted to check on whether Uber was carrying passengers without permission.

A key step toward Kalanick's downfall came in February, when former Uber engineer Susan Fowler posted a personal essay about the year she spent at Uber, writing that she was propositioned by her manager on her first day with an engineering team.

She reported him to human resources, but was told he would get a lecture and no further punishment because he was a high performer,she wrote.

That caught the board's attention and brought outside investigations that led to the firing of 20 people including some managers. Former Attorney General Eric Holder conducted one of the probes, finding that the male-dominated Uber didn't have the most basic policies to protect workers from harassment.

Holder's report suggested procedures that most companies have had for years such as using performance reviews to hold leaders accountable.

Also, Kalanick lost his temper in an argument with an Uber driver who was complaining about pay. The profanity-laced confrontation was caught on a video that surfaced in February.

Afterward, Kalanick said he needed management help and had to grow up. The company began searching for a chief operating officer.

In March, board member Arianna Huffington expressed confidence that Kalanick would evolve into a better leader. But Huffington, a founder of Huffington Post, suggested time might be running out.

He's a "scrappy entrepreneur," she said during the call, but one who needed to bring "changes in himself and in the way he leads."

During the past year, several senior managers left the company, including the president and chief financial officer.

Outside experts said the only way to change Uber's culture was for Kalanick to step aside. But Uber's ownership and voting structure made it difficult to oust him.

Kalanick took an indefinite leave of absence earlier this month, in part to deal with a personal tragedy.

In May, his mother was killed and his father hurt in a boating accident on a California lake.

Secret Uber Software Steers Drivers

Uber on Friday acknowledged the use of a secret software program to steer drivers away from trouble, including sting operations by local authorities to catch law-breakers.

In the latest in a streak of damaging news for the ride sharing giant, Uber came forward about its "Greyball" software after a New York Times report which said the program aimed to deceive authorities in markets around the world.

According to an Uber statement, the tool was used in cities where it was not banned from operating, and the main intent was to protect drivers from disruption by competitors using the smartphone application to interfere instead of summon legitimate rides.

"This program denies ride requests to fraudulent users who are violating our terms of service," an Uber spokesperson said.

"Whether that's people aiming to physically harm drivers, competitors looking to disrupt our operations, or opponents who collude with officials on secret 'stings' meant to entrap drivers."

Uber said the program was used in locations where drivers feared for their safety, and "rarely" to avoid law enforcement.

Greyball was used in several countries, cited interviews with current and former employees whose names were cloaked.

The report said Greyball was part of a part of a broader program created to reveal people trying to use Uber in "violation of terms of service" and had the blessing of the company's legal team.

According to the report, the program raised ethical and potential concerns, and had been a closely guarded secret in Uber's toolbox as it expanded around the world, clashing with regulators and traditional taxi groups.

The "Greyball" disclosure comes as accusations of sexism, cut-throat management, and a toxic work environment have Uber trying to pull its image out of a skid as competition revs in the on-demand ride market.

Uber chief Travis Kalanick this week apologised, acknowledging that "I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up," after a video showed him verbally abusing a driver for the service.

The incident which circulated on social media was another hit for the image of the global ridesharing giant, which faces accusations of sexual harassment and a lawsuit contending it misappropriated Google's self-driving car technology.

In the message to employees later, Mr Kalanick wrote "To say that I am ashamed is an extreme understatement."

Uber is one of the largest investor-backed start-ups with a valuation estimated at US$68 billion, and has operations in dozens of countries and hundreds of cities, even as it battles regulators and an established taxi industry.

Mr Kalanick also faced criticism for agreeing to be part of a business advisory panel for President Donald Trump, but then quit the panel amid a campaign by Trump opponents to delete the application.

USA: Uber Executive Resigns After Harassment Complaints

A new engineering executive at Uber left Monday after the ride-sharing titan learned he ended his career at Google after a sexual harassment complaint, according to US media reports.

Amit Singhal has denied acting in any such improper manner while head of search at Google but did not disclose that there had been an internal investigation that ended with the complaining employee found "credible," , which shared what it had learned about the situation with Uber.

Singhal, a well known figure in Silicon Valley, worked at Google for 15 years before retiring early last year. He was recently hired by Uber as senior vice president of engineering.

Nothing about the complaint at Google was uncovered in a background check done on Singhal before being hired by Uber, Recode and other outlets reported.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick asked Singhal to resign early Monday for not disclosing the investigation, according to Recode.

Singhal condemned harassment in any setting and said "I do not condone and have not committed such behavior."

Accusations of sexism, cut-throat management, and a toxic work environment have Uber trying to pull its image out of a skid as competition revs in the on-demand ride market.

Uber hired former attorney general Eric Holder to review workplace conditions after ex-employee Susan Fowler alleged sexual harassment and sexism at the firm in a detailed online post.

A New York Times report on Friday depicted an environment at Uber in which workers were pitted against one another and misbehavior by top performers was overlooked.

Controversies threaten to revive a #DeleteUber campaign triggered by Kalanick´s short-lived plan to be part of a business advisory group for US President Donald Trump.

Kalanick quit the group under pressure from a growing movement to stop using the ride-sharing service because of his connection to the new administration, and by extension an anti-immigrant agenda.

As the campaign picked up speed, rival Lyft´s popularity accelerated.

Meanwhile, the race to develop self-driving vehicles took a turn last week when Google´s parent company Alphabet filed a lawsuit against Uber, accusing it of using stolen technology.

Alphabet contends that a manager at its autonomous car subsidiary Waymo took technical data with him when he left to launch a competing venture that went on to become Otto, Uber´s self-driving vehicle unit, in a reported $680 million deal.

San Francisco-based Uber acquired commercial transport-focused tech startup Otto last year as it pressed ahead with a pursuit of self-driving technology.

In the eyes of consumers, Uber´s controversies pack together into "a snowball of trouble rolling down the hill getting bigger and bigger," said brand management specialists Bruce Turkel.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Verbally Abuses A Driver, Apologises

Uber chief Travis Kalanick has apologised, acknowledging that "I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up," after a video showed him verbally abusing a driver for the service.

In a message to Uber employees late Tuesday, Kalanick cited the widely circulated video and said he "treated an Uber driver disrespectfully."

The incident which circulated on social media was the latest hit for the image of the global ridesharing giant, which faces accusations of sexual harassment and a lawsuit contending it misappropriated Google's self-driving car technology.

In the dashcam video, Kalanick responded to a driver's complaint by saying, "Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit. They blame everything in their life on somebody else."

In the message to employees later, Kalanick wrote "To say that I am ashamed is an extreme understatement."

He added: "My job as your leader is to lead ... and that starts with behaving in a way that makes us all proud. That is not what I did, and it cannot be explained away."

Kalanick also offer his apology to the driver and said the incident shows he needs to work on his leadership.

"It's clear this video is a reflection of me—and the criticism we've received is a stark reminder that I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up. This is the first time I've been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it."

Uber is one of the largest investor-backed start-ups with a valuation estimated at $68 billion, and has operations in dozens of countries and hundreds of cities, even as it battles regulators and an established taxi industry.

Kalanick also faced criticism for agreeing to be part of a business advisory panel for President Donald Trump, but then quit the panel amid a campaign by Trump opponents to delete the application.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Resigns From President Trump's Business Council After Criticism

The CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, has resigned from President Trump's economic council made up of U.S. business leaders. His resignation comes after a consumer campaign to boycott the ride hailing company because of Kalanick's association with the Trump administration.

In an email to staff, obtained by NPR, Kalanick said, "Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the President or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that."

Since Trump's executive order banning immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries came down last week it has sparked widespread protests. Many Uber customers were outraged when Uber lowered its prices while taxi drivers were on strike at New York City's JFK airport over the order. The price drop was perceived as a move to take advantage of the strike and draw business away from the taxis. Uber denies this was the case. But, it helped fuel a Dump Uber campaign.

In Kalanick's email to employees the CEO pointedly rejected any ban on immigrants or refugees. He wrote: "The executive order is hurting many people in communities all across America Immigration and openness to refugees is an important part of our country's success and quite honestly to Uber's."

Trump's council is made up of some of the wealthiest chief executives in the country — among them: Mary T. Barra of General Motors, Robert A. Iger of Disney and Virginia M. Rometty of IBM.

Uber Bows Down, Sells China Operations To Didi Chuxing

Uber Technologies Inc. has given up its costly battle for China’s riders, swapping its local operations there for a minority stake in the country’s homegrown champion, Didi Chuxing Technology Co.

Didi, which was valued at $28 billion in its latest fundraising round, said Monday that Uber and investors in its UberChina unit will take a 20% stake in the company. Combined with Uber’s China business that was valued at around $8 billion, Didi will have a valuation of around $36 billion.

After the merger, Uber will become the largest shareholder in Didi. The Chinese ride-hailing company will also invest $1 billion in Uber as part of the deal, a person familiar with the matter said.

The deal marks an end to Uber’s efforts to establish an independent foothold in China, which began in 2013 and was considered a rare case of a U.S. tech firm making inroads in the local market. Besides Apple Inc., which has struggled of late with slowing sales in China, few other companies have gone toe-to-toe with Chinese rivals for local consumers.

This merger “frees up a substantial resources for bold initiatives focused on the future of cities—from self-driving technology to the future of food and logistics.” Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick said in a prepared statement. Operating in China “is only possible with profitability.”

“We were a young American business entering a country where most U.S. internet companies had failed to crack the code and with the product that needed rebuilding,” he said.

Uber and Didi, which have been bitter rivals, will see their fate become firmly intertwined with the deal. Mr. Kalanick will join Didi’s board, while Didi founder Cheng Wei will join Uber’s board as part of the deal. After the merger, Uber will own 17.7% of Didi, with other existing investors in UberChina, including Chinese search giant Baidu Inc., taking another 2.3% of Didi.

In a joint statement, Mr. Cheng and Jean Liu, Didi’s president, called UberChina a “great competitor” in an “epic battle” for the fast-growing ride-hailing business in China.

Uber’s foray into private ride-hailing services in China began before Didi, which was founded in 2012, added that feature to its taxi-hailing business. UberChina has spent more than $1 billion over the past three years trying to gain traction, by offering subsidies to both drivers and riders. An analysis by consultancy BDA China Ltd. showed that UberChina and Didi both paid about 5 yuan a ride in subsidies, split between driver and passenger.

“We all knew the subsidies were clearly unsustainable,” said Duncan Clark, a longtime China tech consultant who runs the Beijing-based BDA. “The subsidies cost Uber and they couldn’t have gone public with that black hole.”

The deal comes after China last week released nationwide guidelines to legalize ride-hailing services. China’s new industry regulations, which will go into effect in November, forbid the running of ride-hailing services below cost.

It is unclear whether the deal, creating a single dominant company in the ride-hailing industry, will face scrutiny from Chinese authorities. Didi said UberChina will be kept as an independent brand and operation, but that all data will be owned by Didi.

Investors welcomed the deal, saying the long fight in China held the companies back from profiting in the short term.

“This makes sense for both companies,” said Andrew Teoh, managing partner of Ameba Capital, an early investor in Didi, noting the deal follows the same logic that led to other mergers among Chinese tech startups in recent years.

Didi has been a formidable fundraising machine, refusing to back down as Uber poured billions in subsidies into China. Didi raised $7.3 billion in its latest fundraising round in June, which included a $1 billion investment from deep-pocketed Apple. For Didi, Uber’s global reach could help the Chinese firm grow its business overseas.

When Uber announced a partnership with Ant Financial’s Alipay mobile payment system earlier this year, it propelled Alipay into 69 countries; previously it was only in a handful of markets. Research firm Analysys International said Didi had 42.1 million active users in May, while UberChina had 10.1 million.

After the merger, Didi will count all three of China’s biggest technology companies as shareholders—online shopping Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. , gaming-to-social leader Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Baidu.

SOUTH KOREA: Uber Partners With Kia For Premium Service Relaunch In Seoul

Calvin Kang (L), general manager of Uber Korea, and Cho Yong-won, head of the sales division at Kia Motors, stand by a K9 model ahead of the joint relaunch of UberBlack in Seoul on Nov. 11, 2015.

Uber, the controversial ride-booking mobile app, will make a fresh start in Seoul with its high-end version to be serviced on a popular Korean-made luxury sedan, its U.S. operator said Wednesday, seeking to set foot here for the second time after the business hit a snag due to opposition from the local industry.

Uber Technologies Inc. plans to relaunch UberBlack, the premium riding service, in South Korea by the end of the year, provided on the K9 model sold by the country’s No. 2 carmaker Kia Motors Corp., the company said in a statement.

Uber and Kia have clinched a partnership deal to roll out the revamped on-demand platform, the companies said, which comes after the government’s amendment on transport regulations in July that eased the entry barrier for high-end taxi services.

UberBlack drivers will be able to purchase a K9 at a special rate, as the service aims to boost the local transport industry, as well as offer the best service to consumers within the confines of local rules, Uber said.

The move is seen as a big compromise for the U.S. app creator, estimated to be worth US$50 billion that currently operates in over 50 countries worldwide, after its initial attempt to make a footing in Korea went south as it faced strong opposition from the local taxi industry.

Since its Seoul launch in 2013, Uber has been under intense public scrutiny as critics accused it of hurting the local business, with the government also disapproving the service.

The hostility has led the prosecution to indict Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and the head of Uber Korea on charges of violating transportation law, with the verdict yet to be delivered.

Its decision to resume part of its service through a tie-up with a Korean firm is expected to spur a fresh competition for the U.S. company versus Kakao Corp., South Korea’s top mobile platform operator, which just kicked off a similar premium cab-hailing app, KakaoTaxi Black, this month.

Uber said the existing UberBlack will stop operating starting next week in preparation for the relaunch, while the UberTaxi, its cheaper version, will continue business as usual.

Uber runs the two services only in South Korea, which are provided by licensed drivers. It suspended its ride-sharing mobile platform, UberX, in March, as it was regarded as an illegal service.